


Darcy Falls in Love and Gets a Crush on Bruce (in Exactly That Order)

by hollyhawke, shmabs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dogs, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-03 05:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1733183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyhawke/pseuds/hollyhawke, https://archiveofourown.org/users/shmabs/pseuds/shmabs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis is a person who is passionate about many things, and dogs definitely fall into the category of Things Darcy is Passionate About.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darcy Falls in Love and Gets a Crush on Bruce (in Exactly That Order)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Happy (belated) birthday to our dearest Elise, who requested Bruce/Darcy + spring + dogs.

Darcy Lewis is a person who is passionate about many things, and dogs definitely fall into the category of Things Darcy is Passionate About.

Really though, who isn’t?

Ever since that pet shop caught on fire while they were saving the world that one time, Darcy has worried about dogs. And cats too, and other small fluffy things - Darcy doesn’t discriminate against small fluffy things, and she wouldn’t want the fish or reptiles to perish either (although honestly she might not cry about the tarantulas, no matter how many times she’s been told that they make great pets). Every time a square block of Manhattan gets blown up or ripped apart or whatever in the latest crisis, Darcy spends a significant chunk of her time worrying that there might be dogs in the line of fire.

She can’t help it. She knows the Avengers do a pretty damn good job of looking out for civilians, but they can’t be everywhere, and not everyone is as worried about dogs as she is when there are dinosaurs storming the city.

To be fair, the dinosaurs were pretty important, too.

Sometimes, when the villain of the week is local, Darcy is on the team that heads down to the combat zone to collect the Avengers. They often have to be pried away from whatever they’ve wrecked, particularly Steve, who is so determined to make himself useful that he’ll go until he drops without an intervention. Darcy considers it her unofficial responsibility to gently remind them that they need to eat a real meal and get eight hours of sleep, and that there will still be plenty to help with tomorrow.

This time, though, things go slightly differently, because in the approximately twenty feet between the helicarrier and where the Avengers have regrouped, Darcy manages to encounter a dog.

In her defense, the dog is gigantic - and white and fluffy, so it was kind of impossible to miss. She’s never been that good with dog breeds, but she thinks it might be some kind of Great Pyrenees mix. Her grandma had had one of those when she was growing up, and it had been big enough for her to ride. Not that her grandma had ever let her - she’d always insisted it would be too hard on the old dog’s back and hips, and in hindsight she was right - but it had left a lasting impression on little Darcy.

She swears she didn’t plan on taking this one home with her, but one thing led to another (finding the dog led to her petting the dog which led to her looking around for the dog’s owner which led to her figuring out the the poor thing wasn’t gonna be claimed any time soon which led to her insisting that she could not possibly leave it wandering around the streets by itself and she knew the local shelters were going to be at full capacity like they usually were right after an Incident, so the only logical solution was to just take it home with her).

The Avengers (Darcy only calls them that because it’s too difficult to specify each one individually), excepting Bruce, for some reason she can’t really figure out, forbid her from naming it before she even sets foot back on the helicarrier, huge fluffy pup in tow.

“No,” says Tony flatly, taking one look at it. “Take an ad out in the papers, Darce, find its owner. And don’t even think about naming it, you know you’ll get too attached. Besides, that thing probably sheds more than Thor.”

“It’s not like you do the vacuuming!” Darcy shouts at his retreating back, but he just flips the bird at her and keeps walking away.

“Well that’s just too damn bad, isn’t it, sweet pea,” she says to the dog, and then grins as she realizes she’s already broken the rules.

 

Sweet Pea lives up to her name; she is very sweet, and very quiet. There is no reason at all that anyone should not want her living in the building, thinks Darcy. Except allergies. She could make an exception for allergies, because allergies are terrible. Also maybe the hair problem. She feels a bit bad sometimes because Pepper has to buy three times as many lint rollers now, and Darcy knows it’s mostly Sweet Pea’s fault.  Otherwise, though, she’s determined that Sweet Pea will win the Avengers over. It’s not like any of them are tough enough to resist a cute fluffy dog.

She does as Tony says though, and takes out an ad in the paper - after all, if Sweet Pea did belong to someone, she wouldn’t want to keep their dog. She not-so-secretly hopes that no one will answer the ad, and after a week, no one has, and she’s not-so-secretly delighted.

“We’re still not keeping her,” says Tony, crossing his arms over his chest. They’ve called an informal “family meeting” to address the issue of Sweet Pea (by “they” she means “Tony,” because Tony likes to think that owning Avengers Tower means he gets to call the shots - he’s wrong). Tony is the only one who has strong opinions on the matter; Pepper likes her, even though her suit has dog hair all over it, Steve can’t resist anything that likes to be petted, Thor wants Darcy to be happy, and Clint likes dogs anyways. Natasha is neutral, but not opposed, as long as Darcy keeps the dog out of her suite. Darcy had pegged her for a cat person, anyways (eventually she finds out that Nat’s more of a snake person, which makes a lot of sense).

“What’ve you got against dogs?” Darcy drawls, giving Tony a Look.

“Nothing,” says Tony. “Actually, I like dogs. I really do. But I know how you are, Darce. We take in enough human strays around here - hey!” he glares at Bucky, who’d tossed a wadded up piece of paper at his head - “anyways, Darce, I know as soon as I allow one dog there are going to be ten dogs in this house between you and Steve and that is going to get so out of control, so fast.”

“Funny how I said the same thing to you when you were building robots,” interjects Pepper mildly, and Darcy knows exactly whose side she’s on now.

“I would like it if Sweet Pea stayed,” Darcy hears, quiet and subdued, from Bruce. He’s sitting across the room in one of the worn out armchairs, legs crossed and looking almost anxious.

Tony, who had been about to launch into another one of his pointless and confusing rants about the difference between robots and people/dogs, stops short and looks at Bruce speculatively. Darcy can’t help but do the same, glancing at Bruce and wondering why he’s sticking up for her and Sweet Pea when he’s never shown any interest in them before now.

After a pause that indicates that everyone is waiting for an explanation, Bruce sighs and elaborates. “Pets - including dogs - have been shown over and over to have strong benefits for people’s mental health,” he explains. “I think having her around would do us all some good.”

Tony looks, well, not stricken, exactly, but more as if he’s guilty for not thinking of that himself. Darcy knows he’s a genius and kind of an asshole at times, but she also knows that Bruce’s happiness (and everyone else’s as well) is pretty much his number one priority, so she decides not to gloat too much.

“You gonna say no to that cute lil face?” she asks, smug. OK, maybe she’ll gloat a little bit. After all, it’s not like she’s Steve or anything (who is actually a surprisingly sore winner, shit, maybe she is acting like Steve).

“She stays out of my lab,” Tony stipulates, and Darcy shrugs. That’s easy enough.

That about settles it; Sweet Pea is staying.

 

After that, Darcy isn’t surprised when Bruce quickly becomes attached. Darcy grew up with pets, and she’s more than willing to embrace the everyday responsibility that comes with owning a large dog. She settles into a regular schedule of grooming and walking her, and at least once a day when he’s in the Tower, Bruce joins her.

Bruce’s lab, which is connected to Tony’s but not technically Tony’s Lab™, is one of Sweet Pea’s favorite places in the tower. Tony always finds an excuse to come over and fiddle around with something or other while sneakily (or at least he thinks he’s being sneaky) feeding Sweet Pea her favorite treats. Bruce just pretends not to see and covers his smile with his sleeve. Whenever Darcy notices she can’t help but laugh at him and point out just how hypocritical he’s being, which leads to Tony getting flustered and (on Sweet Pea’s lucky days) dropping all the treats that he had stashed up his sleeve.

Sometimes, when Bruce comes with her on Sweet Pea’s walks, they talk. She doesn’t know Bruce all that well - the guy is hard to get to know, and it’s obvious that that’s no accident. Sometimes they don’t talk, and Darcy likes that, too.

“I had a dog once.” He says it conversationally, but Darcy can tell that there’s a story there that he isn’t telling. She wonders what happened that he doesn’t have one anymore, and she decides it’s not a terribly insensitive thing to ask.

“How come you don’t have one anymore?” she asks. “You sure seem to like them.”

He shrugs, and that’s confirmation enough for her. “‘S hard to keep a dog when you’re moving around a lot,” he finally says.

“You’re not moving around a lot anymore,” she points out, and he shrugs again.

“And now we have Sweet Pea,” he answers.

Oh, so she’s our dog, now, thinks Darcy. She isn’t really the type of girl who blushes, but she’ll readily admit that in this one case, she does indeed blush. She likes to think of it as just a nice rosiness to her cheeks, but with her luck it’s probably blotchy and weird looking. Bruce doesn’t seem to mind though, smiling at her all earnest and cute like he does. The guy has no idea how adorable he is, and Darcy is starting to think that someone needs to do something about it.

When Darcy thought “someone,” she didn’t really expect that someone to be the Hulk.

 

They’ve had Sweet Pea for about three months when another villain (who calls himself Doctor Doom, what a fucking asshole) tries to destroy New York. The Avengers are able to defeat him, as Darcy knew they would, and now it’s time for clean-up.

She brings Sweet Pea with her - who doesn’t want to pet a fluffy dog after saving the world? - but when she gets there, Steve tries to tell her to stay back.

“The Hulk’s still with us,” he says apologetically, but she just raises her eyebrows and puts her hands on her hips.

“So?” she asks archly. Steve pinches the bridge of his nose in the closest she’s ever seen him to exasperation.

“Aren’t you afraid of anything?” he asks her dryly. She grins at him brightly.

“I mean, a little,” she admits. “But not that much.”

By that time, the Hulk has caught sight of her and wandered over to her and Steve. He has, thankfully, stopped smashing things, and Darcy smiles at him. If she’s being honest, the sheer size and strength of him is a little scary, but she’s also pretty sure that if he wanted to hurt her, she’d be a smear on the pavement by now. And in some sense, that’s reassuring.

Once Steve has more or less convinced himself that the Hulk likes Darcy and she’s probably not in any danger, he makes himself scarce. She’s sure he’s got something important to take care of. Like rescuing kittens from trees. Or snarking at Tony.

“Hey, big guy,” she says. “How’s it going? I hear you got to smash some stuff.”

Hulk grunts his assent and smiles.

“Hulk smash,” he says, in a way that Darcy’s sure shouldn’t be charming, but is all the same. “Hulk like smash.”

Darcy laughs. “Yeah big guy, I’ve heard all about how much you like to smash. You like anything else? Other than smashing stuff?”

“Hulk like Darcy.” Hulk says, almost shyly, all while rubbing the back of his huge green neck with his huge green hand. It’s so cute Darcy doesn’t know what to do with herself, can’t help but smile up at him bright and happy.

“Little guy like Darcy, too,” he says knowingly, with a smile that’s almost mischievous.

“Aw, shucks,” she says, falling short of the sarcasm she was going for and ending up quite a bit closer to embarrassingly earnest. Was it too second grade to ask if Bruce like liked her? Thankfully, Sweet Pea steps in and takes over the conversation, yipping up at Hulk happily and wagging her tail.

Hulk claps his hands excitedly, reaching down to pet Sweet Pea’s irresistibly fluffy fur. Darcy’s terrified for a split second, but Hulk is very, very gentle, and Sweet Pea just sits there looking like she’s in heaven, Hulk’s big fingers scratching behind her ears.

It only takes a minute or two of petting Sweet Pea before the Hulk is replaced by Bruce, who is much smaller, and much more naked.

“I brought you pants,” says Darcy cheerfully, holding them out to him. He takes them gratefully, and she politely looks away while he puts them on.

  
“Thanks,” he says, and there’s a moment of awkward silence while Bruce tries to avoid looking at Darcy and Darcy aggressively avoids being avoided.

Bruce clears his throat. “I, uh,” he says. “The other guy was supposed to keep that a secret.” He looks sheepish, shifting from foot to foot and running his hand through his already messy curls. It’s cute, Darcy thinks absentmindedly. She can also sense him about to launch into a monologue about how he doesn’t expect anything of her and how he can leave her alone if she’s uncomfortable, blah blah blah, so she decides she’d best nip that in the bud.

“Well, I dunno why,” she admits, deliberately making eye contact. “I kinda like that secret.”

He sputters and blushes, to her amusement. “Come on,” she says, “Helicarrier’s leaving soon, and I think you’ve earned the right to sleep for at least a week. Plus, there’s pasta in the fridge, homemade by yours truly.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Bruce mutters, and Darcy stubbornly pretends not to hear him as she leads the way, because she’s pretty sure he’s not talking about the pasta.

 

Regardless, he keeps joining her on Sweet Pea’s walks, and if they hold hands sometimes, well, it’s no one else’s business (especially not Tony’s). Neither of them have made a move to do anything more than hold hands yet, and that’s just fine as far as Darcy’s concerned. She likes holding hands; it’s so underrated as a romantic gesture.

It’s an especially warm spring afternoon, and they’ve been walking in the park for longer than they usually do. It’s been a slow week at the Tower - the world hasn’t needed saving lately, and there’s nowhere in particular that they have to be. It’s a nice feeling, and neither of them are quite ready to go back to their work yet.

Sweet Pea is unusually antsy, pulling on the leash and barking at passing leaves.

“Honestly,” Darcy says, “I dunno what’s gotten into her lately. She didn’t eat something in the lab, did she? I know Tony’s always giving her those damn expensive treats - he’s spoiled her rotten by the way, you need to talk to him about that - but maybe she got into one of his projects?”

“Well,” Bruce says, nudging a leaf with his toe (which causes Sweet Pea to flip out and bark at Bruce’s foot as well as the poor innocent leaf), “I’ve read about dogs, uh, picking up on their owner’s emotions and I guess I’ve been, um, a bit anxious lately.”

“Oh?” Darcy turns to look at him curiously. “What about?” She gives his hand a quick squeeze as an afterthought, hoping it’s a reassurance.

“Well,” he clears his throat awkwardly. “It’s actually, um, about that secret I told you a while back.”

“Oh?” Darcy repeats, perking up. “I’m listening.” She’s trying to encourage him to tell her without being overbearing or making him nervous, but he’s blushing, so she’s pretty sure this is something she’s gonna want to hear.

“I was actually thinking about what it’d be like to kiss you,” he tells her, surprisingly smoothly.

“I’m listening intently,” is all Darcy can manage to add, a little dazed. Bruce has been thinking about kissing her. If that’s not something to get flustered over, well, fuck you, she’ll get flustered over it anyway.

“It’s, uh, been a while since I’ve kissed anyone though,” he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, in that case,” says Darcy, grinning. “May I?”

“Sure,” says Bruce breathlessly. “I mean, yes, I mean -”

“Shh.”

Darcy turns to face Bruce and stands on her tiptoes, cupping his face in her hands and very gently presses her mouth against his. Bruce’s lips are soft and warm and the kiss is more than nice, very impressive for Bruce being so out of practice. It’s so nice that, once the kiss ends, he can only rest his forehead against hers for a moment before she’s leaning upward for another one.

They only break apart when Sweet Pea yips at them, wagging her tail excitedly and jumping up, paws on Bruce’s shoulders, to lick his face.

“Sweet Pea, down,” scolds Darcy, trying to sound disapproving, but it’s not very convincing when she’s giggling at the look on Bruce’s face.

“Blargh,” Bruce says, swiping at the slobber Sweet Pea left on his cheek. “I think that was a little too much tongue for me,” he quips.

“Well,” Darcy says, eyeing Bruce up and down, “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

Bruce turns a spectacular shade of brick red and ducks his head, but takes her hand. They start to meander back towards the Tower, but it’s not long before Darcy shakes off his hand in favor of wrapping her arm around his waist. She leans into him, and he presses a kiss to her temple.

  
Sweet Pea trots along beside them, tongue lolling and tail wagging peacefully, because if her humans are happy, so is she.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
